


Follow A Guide to Find a Teacher

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Multi, Post-Episode: s02e19-20 Twilight of the Apprentice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7950934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After events in <i>Splinter of the Mind's Eyes</i>, Luke had visions that led him to Malachor. There, a little bird helps him find exactly what he needs: a teacher who speaks truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow A Guide to Find a Teacher

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Twird96](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twird96/gifts).



> Prompt: Ahsoka interaction with Luke and Leia "Generations".

Luke carefully followed the bird down under the devastation of this temple, still nervous about the dark energies all around him. He'd had a Vision, a strong one, just after leaving Mimban that insisted he go here, and the bird had been strongly present in the Vision. With his fear held at bay mostly by strength of purpose, Luke kept going down, until they reached an area that was too dark for his eyes to see. Yet, as he ignited his lightsaber, the glow only extended a short way, like the dark energies were battling it.

He forged on, heartened by the small calls of the bird, until they came to a cul de sac, and his glowing saber shone back off of something else. Crouching, Luke almost yelped in surprise, finding a person sitting with her legs folded, arms limp over the knees, two lightsabers showing, one in each hand. The person had long headtails in front, and curving horns above, unlike anyone he'd ever met. As he inspected her, he saw a number of marks on the armor and clothing that indicated a battle, possibly inflicted by lightsabers. She did not seem to be alive, despite being perfectly poised in a meditative pose.

"Is this why I am here?" Luke asked, and the bird made a noise he could have sworn was an affirmative. He had to turn off the lightsaber, understanding now why his instincts had told him to come in a larger ship than his usual X-Wing. He found the glow light in his pouches, clipping it on before he turned off his lightsaber. It gave less light, but he would be able to trace his steps. He moved into the person's space, reaching out to move the lightsabers first—

—and the being's eyes came open suddenly with a fierce intake of breath as he disturbed one. He scrambled back, as hands tightened on hilts and they ignited in pure white energy.

The bird screed at them, as the being surveyed her status, both sabers held out warningly to him.

"Easy. The bird led me here. Please, let me help you," he said.

"Anakin?"

The higher register of the voice might mean female, but right then, Luke was just in shock, because how had this person known his father's name?

"No. I'm Luke. Luke Skywalker."

She looked at him with narrowed eyes, before she turned her sabers off, leaving them just in the glow of the small light he wore.

"I do not understand." It took Luke a moment, but he realized she had turned her head to the bird, which came and settled on her shoulder, crooning at her. 

"I thought you might be dead, to be honest, but the bird thought I needed to come for you," Luke said.

"Trance. I was in trance. And because no one was here to say my name, I made my lightsabers moving the recall. Only… I have no idea how long I have been here."

"It's Imperial Year 21 if that helps."

Apparently it did, as a low litany of words he did not recognize exploded from her. He leaned back on his feet, waiting until she steadied and looked at him again.

"You said Skywalker. How?"

"My father was Anakin Skywalker."

She levered herself to her feet, putting one lightsaber on a clip of her belt, before reaching toward his lightsaber. He got nervous, but it didn't pull away from him.

"You're carrying his lightsaber. Yet it doesn't feel corrupted."

"Why would it? Ben Kenobi gave it to me, said my father would have wanted me to have it," Luke said as he stood. How did she know it was his father's?

"Ben Kenobi? Obi-Wan? Master Kenobi lives?" At Luke's sudden, intense memory of his death, she folded in a bit. "No longer." She drew in a deep breath. "Do you serve the Empire, Luke Skywalker?"

Now he let his hand open, ready to draw if he needed to. "No."

"Good." She stretched her free hand out, putting the other lightsaber away now. "My name is Ahsoka Tano, and I must leave this world. Will you take me?"

"Sure. Where to?"

"We can decide that one we are in hyperspace, young Skywalker." She indicated the passage out. "Please know that I am no friend of the Empire. But to the son of Anakin, I would be an ally, at the very least."

"You knew my father then. And Ben."

She half-smiled, though there was a bitter sadness in the glow of his light. "Yes. Anakin was my master, as Obi-Wan was his."

* * *

Getting back to the ship, for Luke had no way of understanding this impossible find and chose to be silent on the way there, produced a new surprise, one that left Luke winded, mentally, for the woman immediately greeted his astromech who was waiting at the hatch.

"Artoo, it is good to see you again."

[Commander?]

"Yes, Artoo, and I see you can remember me," she said. "Memory encrypted?"

[Yes.] It was a plaintive beep, and she knelt down with her hands on his front, resting her forehead on his dome.

"Oh, old friend." She rattled off a security key, and all of Artoo's lights flashed frenetically before he was leaning into this woman.

[Locked. Memories there, for me, but could not tell.]

"Well, I need you now, friend. I was lost here six years ago."

"Six years?" Luke asked, stunned.

Ahsoka stood, facing him. "Yes. I never knew a trance could survive that many years, but this planet is a nexus of the Force, even if much of it has been perverted by the Dark Side."

The bird, still on her shoulder, crooned.

[We go now?]

"Yes, Artoo; go start pre-flight." Luke started up into the ship behind the droid, followed by the woman.

"I hope you have rations aboard. I feel starved," Ahsoka said. "Protein… I'm fairly solidly a carnivore."

"Yeah, of course. I might have a million questions for you," Luke said as they went to the cockpit, him already fishing a out a bar for her.

"I'll answer what I can." She took note of the ship's design as she went, noting it definitely looked like a militia craft, not Imperial. "Tell me, Luke, are you a member of a rebel cell?" she asked, her voice slightly amused by her own thoughts.

"I guess you could say that. I'm Rogue Squadron's commander," he said. "When I'm there. Wedge fills in pretty well when I'm not."

"Wedge Antilles, Corellian?"

Luke grinned as he sat in the pilot's seat and she took the co-pilot, and ration bar, beside him.

"Yeah, that's him."

"He helped me evade the Imps once. Nice kid."

Luke started lifting off, to get them back into space. "He's great! Best wingman I could hope for. I take it you're Rebellion?"

"Something like that." Ahsoka concentrated on eating, glancing back to Artoo. She changed languages, hoping the boy did not speak it. [Is he connected to Alderaan's contingent?]

[What is left, yes,] Artoo answered in military binary code. [He can take you to Command.]

Ahsoka looked at Luke then. "Sorry to talk around you, but I had to be certain I was in a safe place to speak freely. Artoo says you can take me directly to Rebel Command. Consolidating that fully was not dreamed of when I came here, but I trust him."

Luke raised an eyebrow, but kept working on feeding coordinates to the nav-computer. "You know Command, though?"

"Quite a few of the leaders, actually," she said. "I have passcodes that will be well out of date, but that could be verified, if it helps ease your concerns."

He glanced over, and listened to the Force. "I don't think I need to worry. I can feel your sincerity."

"Good."

"When you say my father was your master, you mean teacher, right?"

Ahsoka nodded. "I was his padawan, from the time I was fourteen until I was nearly seventeen. At that time, things happened, and I left the Order. A few months later, the Order was dead." Her voice conveyed grief over that latter event. "And with it, the Republic."

"So you weren't there when Vader killed my father," Luke said, and she stared at him in shock. "What? Ben told me Vader killed his student, my father."

"Well that's Jedi circular logic and perspective if I ever heard it!" she exploded. She then shook her head, the headtails flexing in irritation. "If it were really that simple, I would not have been trapped on that world, because Vader never would have escaped me."

"What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath, and then let it out. "Vader is what is left of my Master. Vader is Anakin, and he is inside that monster… even if he doesn't want to believe it."

Luke blanched, going into denial immediately. "No, Ben said he killed my father!"

"And I can see how Kenobi made himself believe that!" Ahsoka's voice was sharp. "He loved Anakin as dearly as I did! All the events I learned happened, at Vader's doing, I didn't want to believe it either! But I broke the mask when we fought, and I saw his face! I managed to make Anakin reach out of that pain and anger. He called my name! And then… then, he was gone again."

"I can't believe it," Luke said stubbornly.

"I wish I didn't."

* * *

Leia met Luke at the ship, and hugged him hard… then stepped back and stared at the woman coming off the ship. "You… I know you."

Ahsoka stared at the young woman in her own turn, hand steadying on Artoo's dome as the bird crooned softly at her. "You're Bail's daughter," she said, even as she felt a ghost memory of another woman in the back of her mind. "I saw you, sometimes, before it became too dangerous for me to go to Alderaan."

Leia's face betrayed the grief for a moment, before she managed to put her professional mask in place. "You are Fulcrum."

Ahsoka nodded, before Artoo bumped her leg.

[Two babies. My senator named them. Separated.]

Luke, following the binary better than Leia, stared at his astromech. "Artoo, what?!"

[Two babies.]

"Force take it all, what were they thinking," Ahsoka whispered to herself as she touched the Force, read the truth there. "Artoo is right. There is a Force bond between you and the Princess," she said after a moment.

"WHAT?!"

Luke stared at Leia then, before he slowly grinned. "Well, I did feel an immediate need to help you, Leia."

"This is — " Words failed the lifelong politician and Rebel leader, before she shook her head. "We were told you were dead."

Ahsoka flinched a little. "I thought I was. I've been in trance on Malachor since my last mission for the Jedi Master Yoda."

"Who's Yoda?" Luke wanted to know, curious about all things Jedi.

"He was the grand master of the Order, before they all died." Ahsoka shook her head sadly. "I don't know of a Jedi he didn't teach at some point, even if he refused any more padawans after the last one, the one that fell and became a Sith."

"Common problem in the Order?" Luke asked in an edged voice. She looked at him evenly.

"The Sith were thought to be extinct when I was a very small child. The first we knew of them was when Darth Maul killed Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Master Kenobi thought he killed Maul… and the real Sith Lord recruited a Jedi who had been disillusioned, named Dooku. He used Darth Tyranus, but we were in his direct line, and never used it. He was killed near the end of the war, and Darth Sidious, the real Sith Master, who you know as the Emperor, recruited a Jedi that he had been close to, one that never would have suspected him until it was too late. He became Darth Vader."

"How could he not have known?" Luke demanded, ignoring his sister standing there as he chased down this mystery.

Ahsoka took a deep breath. "Because the Chancellor, as we knew him then, was much loved by the people, and had unfettered access to my master from the time he came to the Temple! No one knew!"

"I don't understand how," Luke answered. "I clearly felt the Dark energy in that place I found you. How did the entire Order fail to see the dark in him?"

"If I could answer that, Luke, I might actually still be a Jedi," she said, before pointedly looking at Leia. "My apologies, Princess, I am being rude."

"No, I think you're telling history none of us have," Leia said, not understanding why Luke was fuming so badly. "Come. Let me get you quarters, and maybe clothing?"

"I would appreciate quarters. Clothing may need to wait until I can touch it; my lekku are sensitive," Ahsoka told her in an apologetic tone.

"Of course. I forget that Togruta don't usually wrap theirs, as Twi'leks do." Leia led the woman away, leaving Luke with Artoo, and faintly miserable.

"How can she be right, Artoo?"

[I don't like it, but she is,] he said sadly. [All data corroborates.]

"Why did Ben lie, then?"

The droid had no answer for that.

* * *

Luke was waiting when Ahsoka came out of her quarters to go to the quartermaster. He looked repentant, a look she rarely remembered from Anakin. She reached out with both of her hands, and he put his in hers.

"I told some truths poorly. I am sorry. For me, I fought my Master yesterday, so to speak, and I am still raw in my psyche because of that. Forgive me?"

"I think I am the one that should be apologizing," Luke said, ducking his hand, feeling her squeeze both his hands in hers. "Artoo confirmed it," he admitted. 

"Poor Artoo. He was as loyal to your father as Anakin was to him," Ahsoka said softly. 

"Would you… be willing to talk about him to me? And maybe don't tell Leia, not right away. She… was present when Alderaan was destroyed, watching… and he, Vader, he had personally interrogated her just before it."

Ahsoka spit out another round of profanity, and Luke kind of wanted to know the language, because it just flowed like poetry. Not like Huttese, he decided.

"I would gladly talk about Anakin Skywalker to you. And maybe, just maybe, I can figure out what I can do about him. It's not like I'm useful to the Rebellion now as more than a fighter." She let go of his hands. "Yes, I'll tell you all about my Skyguy, and I won't mention to anyone else about Vader."

Luke cocked his head to the side. "Skyguy?"

Ahsoka laughed, and linked her arm in his. "Walk me to the quartermaster, and I'll tell you how the Skyguy and Snips partnership started."

* * *

Finding out how poorly trained Luke was came after the first Imperial attack on their current base. Ahsoka had been very busy, immersed in learning what she had missed, dredging up contacts and details she had not passed on to even her closest lieutenants in the cells she had managed. 

Mon Mothma had been ecstatic to have her there, and while Luke was still their golden boy hero of the Death Star battle, he began to see the difference in how the older people reacted to both of them. He was praised and built up, reminded that he was a new hope to them all. Ahsoka, on the other hand, was met with deep respect by many, and he heard the rumors concerning her. Hero, child warrior, wrongly accused… those were just a few of the words on older lips.

But as they came under a ground and sky attack, Ahsoka began proving those words in ways that stole his breath. She moved like gravity was merely a suggestion, always too fast for him to track, using both her lightsabers with devastating effect. He was in awe of her, and he had found out that Han was almost beside himself to meet her.

Luke had never known Han remembered the Clone Wars. Then again, Han hadn't known that Chewbacca had fought in them. 

Ahsoka held the line, buying time to get the transports away, a squadron of older veterans laying down fire for her. Luke remained as long as he could, fascinated, but then his X-Wing was ready for escort, and he had to leave, inspired all over again to become a Jedi like the man his father had been.

When they regrouped, Ahsoka coming in on a drop ship, he was there to meet her, eager to ask for more training. Her face and headtails told him it wasn't the time, though, as she steadfastly worked her way toward the aid station. He followed, afraid she was injured, only to see her stop and talk to one of the medics.

"Where are the critical injuries?"

She was directed back, after an older aide hissed 'Jedi' at the one she had spoken to. Luke managed to make it back with her, where he learned that the Force could do far more than assist a fighter, or guide a pair of missiles in. Ahsoka began _healing_ , bringing the Rebel back from the verge of death so that they were stable enough to immerse in bacta once the tanks were up. She didn't stop with one, giving a little of herself to all four critical injuries, to help them live long enough for the medical support they needed.

Ahsoka's headtails were so pale, though, and the orange-copper skin had faded, that Luke quickly went to her, sliding under one arm.

"Let me help you, Ahsoka."

"Thank you, Luke. I'm not the best healer, but I do what I can," she said softly.

"I don't know any of that," Luke told her. "Or how to fight like you did. Or… anything."

"You said Master Kenobi didn't have much time with you. I will make more time for you, and teach you what I have learned. I wish Kanan were here. He was doing so well teaching Ezra."

"Other Jedi?" Luke asked, guiding her toward the quarters that had been set up.

"Kanan had been a padawan, younger than me, when the Order was killed. His master died giving him a chance to escape. And Ezra… was probably about your age." She sighed softly. "Mothma can't find a record on what happened to that crew. I have to hope they are still out there somewhere. It is a hope I hold close."

"I hope they are then." Luke considered that. He had been the last Jedi. Now, he was one of a pair. And maybe there were two others out there. Maybe… maybe there were more.

* * *

Leia came and found Ahsoka herself, waiting until her brother (which still floored her, weeks later) fell back and turned his lightsaber off, obviously exhausted, while Ahsoka merely smiled. No, not smiled, Leia decided. That was a full-fledged smirk.

"Not bad, padawan," the Togruta said, before putting her lightsabers away. "It takes a lot of concentration to keep two lightsabers at bay."

"Did my father use that way of holding them? Or use two?"

Ahsoka laughed. "No, he cursed me a few times for the grip, and while he could fight with two, he was not as skilled as even Obi-Wan in dual wielding." She then clipped her sabers to her belt. "Princess."

Leia shook her head, smiling softly. "You don't have to call me that."

"What else does one call the child of not one, but two, queens?"

"Our mother was a queen? You didn't tell us that… you haven't really talked about her much at all," Luke said.

"You, my padawan, keep asking about Skyguy, and I knew him better."

"I would love to hear about the woman that gave birth to us," Leia said. "But I actually came because we found answers concerning your former primary operatives," she said, keeping her voice respectful. "They wound up following up on intelligence of a threat toward Expansion Space, and have not been in contact in a couple of years now."

Ahsoka closed her eyes, and Luke thought that was the most odd thing to see in a person's physical language. She was both hopeful and grieving, all in one.

"Thank you, Leia." The elder woman pulled herself together, and looked at Luke. "I think today's lessons are over, Luke," she said softly, before going to be alone.

"She must have been very close to them," Luke said softly. "She said there were other Jedi in that team."

"Mon Mothma said she was grooming the captain to take a larger role, that they were the only cell who had actually seen Fulcrum and knew who she really was," Leia said. "I met them once, I realized. I was looking through the records. Yes, they were Jedi, the man and the boy. He'd lost his parents recently, and was worried if the Rebellion was right for him."

"I hope, for her sake, and the Galaxy, they're still out there. We need more Jedi," Luke said, certain of that.

"Maybe. My father always spoke highly of the Jedi." She gave him a quick hug, and then went to get back to work on the latest intelligence reports.

* * *

Leia sat back on the utilitarian couch, having claimed one corner, while Luke settled in the other. Ahsoka seemed perfectly content to have the middle, nursing a mug of kaf as Artoo plugged into the viewscreen they had commandeered. Ahsoka glanced to the door as Mon Mothma slipped in, taking a chair, but was then focusing on the screen as Artoo brought up the first images.

"Wow, that's… that's got to be right near when they found Skyguy," Ahsoka said, staring at the tiny boy and petite girl. "That's Padmé, though. She must be masquerading as one of her handmaidens." Artoo beeped an assent to that. "I think that's Tatooine, so maybe just when they found him?" Again Artoo beeped, even as Luke was going to agree it was his homeworld.

"She looks so young. What year is that?" Leia asked. "And what do you mean about masquerading?"

"Let's see, that would be the same year I came to the Temple or right after, because I only have dim memories of Skyguy looking that blond," Ahsoka said. "Mon, the invasion was ten years before war broke out?"

"Yes. So those events would be almost fourteen years before the Republic was betrayed," the elegant politician answered, rather pleased to have been both invited and able to interact.

"And the masquerading thing… when your mother was queen, she had a whole squad of ladies who passed for her. None quite as well as Sabé, but —"

"Sabé?" Leia stared at Ahsoka, interrupting her. "That's my governess's name." She stared at the image on screen, but Artoo beeped an answer, and Ahsoka smiled.

"Artoo said your governess was his Senator's handmaiden. So, you had a piece of your mother close at hand all along. Not just in the dear friends of hers that are your parents." Ahsoka smiled at her, then looked back at the screen as Artoo played more clips. "Remember, I didn't get in the middle of their lives for a long time. The war was already six months old when I was assigned to Skyguy," she told them.

It didn't keep her from pointing out the people she knew in Artoo's images, or providing context from her point of view, filling in the twins on their parents, and letting Mon glimpse more of a woman she had looked up to. Artoo showed them scenes from his Queen's reign, through to her years as Senator, and offered glimpses of the quieter points in the War.

"Don't you dare," Ahsoka warned him as she recognized Christophsis and her ship coming in, but the astromech cheerfully played the scene anyway. Luke grinned; she had told him the story, and told it honestly. Mon Mothma shook her head slightly.

"I do forget you having been fighting since you were a child, my dear," the Chandrillan said softly.

"I chose to grow up after Geonosis, Mon. I had been plagued by fear for Master Plo that whole awful time… and decided that I would do anything and everything I could to protect the younglings still in the Temple. So I pushed and pushed until Master Yoda had no choice but to find a master for me."

"You're so small there," Leia murmured.

"Fourteen. Which, admittedly, is something like eleven in human standard years, but Togruta have a much smaller adolescence than humans," Ahsoka said. "Go on, Artoo."

He showed more, focusing on happier, quiet moments. Tonight was not for deconstructing what had happened. Ahsoka gave commentary, and as it moved later in the years, so did Mon, adding facets to the discussion. She had suspected, from time to time, about Leia, but Ahsoka's confirmation had been the first she had been willing to share the memories she had.

When Artoo knew he was straying toward the darker times, he stopped projecting images and snippets of conversation, his head swiveling toward his pilot.

"They were right in the middle of the worst of it all," he said.

Mon Mothma made a small noise of agreement. "And it was a secret, Luke. Jedi did not form permanent relationships, and the Naboo would have been appalled at their Senator agreeing to such a breach of custom. The scandal would have torn them both out of the positions that the galaxy needed them in."

"Did you ever suspect?" Leia asked her mentor.

"Only after the fact. General Skywalker and his fortuitous appearances when Padmé needed him was suspect, but only there toward the end did I see it as anything more than a friendship that had begun during her reign." Mon smiled. "Her wardrobe did marvelous things to disguise the pregnancy… but at the funeral, she appeared quite pregnant. I think her ladies must have done that, in case the Emperor suspected the pregnancy, so the children would be safe."

"That sounds like them," Ahsoka agreed. She didn't volunteer anything else, though, on the danger they would have been in.

"I wish we could have known her," Luke said softly.

"I wish you could have as well," Mon said.

* * *

"Seen Ahsoka?"

Leia pulled her head out of the access panel to look at her brother, shaking her head. "Not since Mon came and got her from teaching me and said she had a visitor."

Luke frowned, then sighed. "I suppose I can't be demanding all of her time," he said. "Need a hand?"

"I won't say no," she told him wryly, rolling her eyes. "Why I agreed with that furball to help him work on the _Falcon_ …" she muttered.

"Because said furball told you it's Han's Name-Day soon, and you want to do something nice for him," Luke teased. He looked at the datapad she was using for reference and moved to the next power coupling to make the modifications Chewie had sketched out. "You know Ahsoka told him she'd go take care of Jabba for him? Something about having saved Jabba's son when she was a kid."

"I just think it's funny that Han gets tongue-tied around her. And that he kicked himself mentally for not putting together who Ben Kenobi was," Leia said.

Luke laughed. "Yeah, that was funny." He looked over at her before she could get too wrapped up in her work. "Leia… weird as things were there for awhile, I'm glad you're my sister."

She gave him a soft smile in turn. "I am too, Luke."

* * *

The next day, as Luke came to the room they used as a sparring area, he saw his teacher kissing a woman with blue skin and pale lavender hair in the corridor. He thought he had seen the smaller woman around a few times, but didn't know her name. As they parted, Ahsoka made to go in and noticed Luke. She didn't flush, or otherwise look embarrassed and Luke refused to be rude, so he settled into learning mode and let it go.

Mostly.

"So who is she?" he finally asked, after managing to spring over his teacher and deflect both swipes up at him.

"A dear friend. She was the senator from Pantora, when I was still a padawan." Ahsoka smirked. "I didn't know it for certain at the time, but I was living up to a time-honored tradition of being a Jedi involved with a politician."

"I take it you mean more than my father," Luke said, as he worked his blade through more practical maneuvers, fending off both of hers.

"Master Kenobi was apparently involved with the Duchess of Mandalore, which explains why his Mando'a was so good. So yeah, just continuing traditions!"

"I'm glad there are people that you can reconnect with," Luke told her honestly, before having to move quickly to avoid her sudden reversal on a thrust. "That grip is going to be the death of me!" he joked, even as he managed a creditable parry.

"Your father used to say that, jokingly," she said, in a suddenly sober tone of voice. "Honestly, it nearly was." She stepped back from the fight, remembering that battle, dropping into a cross-legged repose. "I'd already battled Inquisitors, had to work with Maul and then against him… I had to protect Ezra, and Kanan. So when Vader was there, I did what needed to be done. He got the upper hand briefly, threw me off the level we were fighting on.

"When I got back to him, I stopped holding back. I didn't care if I died, as long as I avenged my Master by taking that monster down with me. Anakin never would have wanted to live, knowing what he'd done, and the monster had sworn Anakin was no more." She looked at Luke, smiling sadly. "I'd never been really good about that releasing negative emotions, and I do have a vengeful streak. Try not to take after me in that?"

"I'll try. But what happened, because you've said you know my father still exists inside Vader." Luke settled opposite her, ankles crossed and arms across his propped up knees.

"I told you I broke the mask… I didn't mention I basically ran up his body and knocked his lightsaber fully off attack to do so. When I landed, I was a good distance away, and his respirator was struggling. I needed to get up, to get to Ezra, get out of there… and Anakin called me. More than that, he was in my mind, not just the ball of pain and rage that Vader is, but _Anakin_! My Skyguy. For a few heartbeats, I thought I could save him."

"But?" Luke prodded, even as Ahsoka's eyes had half-closed in painful remembrance.

"That presence vanished, and it was just Vader, but I had to try… either to reach Anakin again, or free him by killing Vader." Ahsoka reached out to take Luke's hands gently. "The Temple started to collapse around us, and in the confusion, we were separated. I was badly injured… and so was he, when I last saw him. I went down, to safety, intending to try and heal before the rescue came back for me." She looked down sadly. "I can only assume Kanan and Ezra were convinced I was dead, because my … my captain never came for me."

Luke squeezed her hands lightly, feeling the deep sadness there. "I can see why they would have? To face him one on one… I've never heard of anyone surviving that. I only got away because he fell as he went to kill me on Mimban."

"I am confident that if the Temple hadn't collapsed when it did, I would have beaten him," Ahsoka said, her faith in herself pure and sliding along Luke's growing Force awareness without any hint of arrogance. "I just have to hope that he hasn't improved more than sparring you has managed to get me in shape for." She smiled at him fondly, even as he grasped what she intended to do.

"You're planning to face him."

She nodded. "And see just what he thinks about the fact Padmé wound up dead… but her children survived. If that doesn't put a dent in his stupid bucket-headed self? I'll make good on my promise to avenge my Master."

* * *

They didn't get a chance to plan for going after Vader. The Sith Lord complicated their planning by coming after them, leading to a running fight to evacuate that base and fall back to the next one. This time, Ahsoka was in an X-Wing, nominally flying under Luke's command, filling in for one of his wingmen that was away on an intel trip.

She accounted for a number of hostiles on her own, her piloting nearly as capable as Wedge's, until her attention was jerked to the largest of the three Star Destroyers.

"He's there," she said, more to herself than meaning to let it go over comms.

"I know," Luke answered her softly, before they got the all clear to break and run for it, as the transports were away. "Rogues, scramble!" he ordered, before looping around to tangle up as many TIE fighters as he could so his pilots could get away. Ahsoka remained with him, working well inside and around his pattern, so that every single fighter could make hyperspace before they jumped.

* * *

Luke and Ahsoka landed simultaneously, with Ahsoka vaulting out of her cockpit without waiting for a ladder, though she graciously accepted the parka thrust at her by the ground crewman.

"You're going to want to get winter gear stat, ma'am," the man said, and she nodded, checking to see Luke was being taken care of in similar fashion. 

"Thank you. And thank you, KayTee," Ahsoka told the astromech that had assisted her. She then read the wall lines, looking for the stripe that would guide her to the quartermaster, trying to tune out the hustle and bustle of so many bodies struggling to get the new base fully operational. At least the parka's hood was made of soft fur, as was the liner, so her lekku and montrals weren't protesting their presence. She turned, checking on Luke one more time, her face soft as both Han and Leia came to find him and assure themselves he was safe.

Across the hangar, one of the ground-based Rebels, just in from a long-term mission training others to be thorns in the Imperial side, happened to look up just as the tall pilot's face was turned to a three-quarter profile in his direction. The vision swam before his eyes, that fur framing orange skin marked out in white lines he knew so plainly. It jerked him up short from helping move their gear off the drop ship, made him stare far longer than was polite or prudent when dealing with a Jedi.

She did not fade away as he half-feared she might, and that long look made her glance around, seeking the one so intent on her… and she froze in place.

"Commander?"

His voice rippled out, even above the noise of setting up, and that broke her stasis. Without upsetting any of the people between them working on their tasks, Ahsoka _moved_ and got to where she could wrap her arms around his neck, grateful when his own arms went around her waist.

"Rex!" The multitude of emotions rolling in her mind had Luke looking their way, a quiet worry in their training bond. She ignored that, clinging to her dear, dear friend instead. When she pulled back, she had tears in her eyes, and was smiling so brightly. "They told me the _Ghost_ went to Expansion Space, and I thought… I thought you would be with them."

Rex shook his head. "No, 'Soka. I needed to give myself to as much fighting as I could, when they came back and said you'd been in that Temple when it came down. And I never went! Kanan was so kriffing certain!" There was guilt and recrimination in his tone, but Ahsoka slipped a hand under his beard to catch his chin, tipping his face up.

"Shh. The Force had other ideas, apparently." She hugged him again, thankful the universe had let her have another friend back.

* * *

Bespin had changed, Ahsoka thought, and possibly for the best. She did wonder where the Altisians were, but right now, she was trying to not draw attention to herself. Hoth had ended with a scramble for escape, and Ahsoka dearly wanted to interview all of their people, to see if there was a leak, for how quickly the base had been found.

She had wound up on the _Falcon_ and decided to keep her presence hidden. Luke should be with the Rebellion currently, but she kept feeling agitation from him, probably because Leia had gotten detoured by the _Falcon_ having a faulty hyperdrive.

From her recon, sliced into the the systems as discreetly as she knew how, she had learned a ship had arrived and then immediately been removed from the registries. Now, eyes on the ship, she knew why.

"Boba, I will not kill you unless you force my hand," she promised the air. He was the free one, little brother to her troopers, and she had learned the horrific story behind his father's death. It was one way of paying honor to her men, to spare the bounty hunter if at all possible.

Leia and Han and Chewbacca were in the city, with Threepio, and she was unknown to their hosts. That would have to be the advantage she kept.

* * *

Everything changed the moment the shuttle approached, and Ahsoka felt a presence that she dreaded getting anywhere near to Leia, or Luke, whom she feared was on the way. She used the ductwork to get past the Imperial troops, then steeled herself for the meeting about to happen. 

Her entry into Vader's space included a very fast toss of the ventilation cover at the bounty hunter with enough force to rattle his helmet. Vader surged to his feet, and she held her hand up at him.

"Send him out, Vader, so you and I can talk!" she said quickly, making it clear to her adversary that her entry and initial attack had been completely calculated.

"Leave us."

Was that curiosity in the Sith lord? She hoped so. As Boba Fett left, with a steady appraisal her way, Ahsoka stood her ground, the length of the room separating her from the man she had fought to a standstill once already.

"Lady Tano. This is unexpected."

"Lord Vader, I wish I could say the same," she told him, a touch of weariness in her voice. "If I outright ask you why you're here, will you answer me? So that I might be able to produce a counter-offer?"

"I seek my son."

She nodded at him. "Are we private, Lord Vader? Because I very much want to discuss that with you."

"You have been hiding him from me?!"

"Not hiding, Vader! I only just escaped Malachor in recent months, because of assistance he gave me," she said quickly. "I have been teaching him since then, but getting to you? A little bit difficult, even though we do need to talk."

"There will be no talking. He is my son and I will have him at my side!" He raised his hand… and she caught it in a Force grip that was nigh unbreakable, pinning it down to his side.

"You would give him over to the Emperor?" she asked with steel in her voice. "You would destroy everything of Padmé like that?!"

"Do not speak her name, Tano!"

"Oh shove it, buckethead!" she snapped at him. "You're so blinded by the Sith stupidity that you can't even see he's used you worse than the kriffing Order ever did! You know what I found out? I found out that Padmé was alive when she gave birth! Alive and conscious with no physical reason the med-droid could detect for her death after she named them!"

She felt him stop straining against her grip, and she let go of that, watching him warily. Her hands itched for her lightsabers; he was far more steeped in the anger, the pain, than when she had fought him before.

"Alive. And conscious."

"Yes. Artoo played the recordings he made, once I unlocked his memories."

Vader very nearly shattered the chair beside him; it crumpled into a useless pieces of junk. "What counter-offer do you bring?"

"Leave my student alone, and take me instead. Nominally as your prisoner, for interfering with your plans." Her eyes glinted with contained violence. "I'll help you overthrow the Emperor."

There was a long pause. "To rule at my side? My apprentice once more?"

"No." She slowly walked down the length of the table to his side, stopping just short of the destroyed chair. "As your friend, perhaps, but I have no wish to rule. What I do want, Vader, is to see the man that betrayed the entire galaxy dead. What I want is to let you meet Luke, not as enemies, but so my student can know his father. 

"I cannot conscience your actions, Vader, but I'm practical enough to know when to start a new score card."

"You truly believe you are strong enough to destroy my Master? You are still foolishly optimistic."

"I nearly killed you, old man, and you know it. Together? You and I would be unstoppable."

"I… might not be your ally in such a fight." Vader was tempted, but he knew his realities. 

"Sure you will be. Because to make it work…" and she opened her shields, reached for the bond that had never been severed between them, //I would have to block his influence on you, much as I bet you were planning to use Luke's family bond to do.//

She had to bolster herself to hold it open, the storm of who he was battering at her sense of self, but she was prepared to do anything to protect her students. Including, she admitted to herself deep down, hiding that Leia was his daughter as well.

"We will do this your way… but if you betray me, or die, I will have my son."

* * *

Luke arrived at Cloud City to find Leia sitting with her face in her hands, Chewie reassembling Threepio, and Han arguing with a man he did not know. 

"What happened?"

Leia all but flung herself into his arms, holding on for dear life.

"Where's Ahsoka?" he asked in a slight panic, reaching for the bond… to find it purposefully muted to him.

"Gone. She gave herself to Vader… we were supposed to be a trap, to lure you here for him," Leia said.

"My buddy here sold us out!" Han growled.

"I came clean as soon as they weren't holding my people hostage, Han! I don't know who that Togruta woman was, but you all still need to get out of here, because I can only keep the bounty hunter tied down so long!"

"Lando… don't let me see you anytime soon," Han snapped. "Chewie, gather up Goldenrod's parts and let's get going. Kid… her message to Leia specifically said not to come after her."

"But she needs help!" Luke said stubbornly.

"No, Luke… the code phrases layered in her message specifically say to rally the Fleet and be prepared," Leia told him, disentangling. "I don't know what she's got planned, but you can't throw whatever it is away."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Luke muttered, even as he helped them get moving.

* * *

If she died, Luke and Leia were still free. And they would be even less likely to be ensnared by Vader, when they knew her death was after turning herself over to him.

She hated that it would hurt Rex and Riyo both, to have had her back and lost her so soon.

Then she was in the presence of the Sith Master, the man that had destroyed everything good in the galaxy, and such thoughts had no place. 

"Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur," she said fiercely as her lightsabers ignited, and the battle was on. She firmly meant for the 'someone else' to be Palpatine. If Vader didn't make it out of this alive, she would grieve for the fact she hadn't been able to save Anakin.

* * *

Luke jerked up from the worksled he had been on, fixing his X-Wing, as he _knew_ Ahsoka was back, and she was not alone. He ran for the communication center, getting there as they were connecting with the shuttle.

"Command, this is Fulcrum. Requesting Commander Skywalker for comms. Yes, I stole the shuttle; is it transmitting the proper code?"

"Fulcrum, this is Command, and yes, though we haven't seen that phrasing in a long time," General Rieekan said, half-amused. The 'don't shoot; we stole it' had once been common when battles had forced the theft of enemy ships.

"Blame my poor memory, General, and the fact I've been a little bit fried recently," Fulcrum said. "Is Commander Skywalker available?"

"I'm here, Fulcrum." Luke moved over to the console.

"Sending coordinates, and requesting a rendezvous at them, Commander. You, and Artoo. Any other interested parties will just have to wait," she said apologetically. "And Luke? Bring bacta, please."

That made him reach deeper into the bond, and he felt how ravaged she was. 

"Understood. Command out."

Rieekan gave him a long look, then nodded. Fulcrum had been teaching the young Jedi, and they had ways of knowing what was safe. "Bring her home safe, Commander."

"I will. Let Leia and Fulcrum's friend know?"

* * *

The coordinates weren't far, and it was on a planetoid with little life, but a sustainable atmosphere. Luke set down next to the shuttle, and hurried to it, after getting Artoo down so he could follow. The hatch was open, letting him barrel in and then draw up short as the other presence was the one he could actually see.

His eyes went to a cot that had been set up, and Ahsoka was on it, wearing only her small clothes and a lot of bandages. 

Then again, Vader's suit was smoked and burned in many places, and the respirator sounded horrific.

"Hello… Father," Luke said steadily.

"Son." Vader rasped in a breath, then motioned to Ahsoka. "Help me with her."

"I will," Luke said, even as he marveled at the fact he was with Vader, that Ahsoka was obviously weak and dangerously wounded, and yet… he felt safe.

He didn't know yet what his teacher had done, but perhaps… perhaps this would be a new beginning for them all.

**Author's Note:**

> Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur - Today is a good day for someone else to die - Mando saying


End file.
